These yummy little balls were inspired after a recent attempt at Jamie Oliver’s no bake vegan slice. It turned out to be a winner and really satisfied that afternoon chocolate craving (mine of course not Little Big H’s!).  They are raw no bake balls suitable for toddlers (although they do contain lot of nuts, so if you haven’t given your little one nuts before, then this recipe isn’t for you).  They have a delicious chewy centre with a chocolate chia coating

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• 170 g medjool dates
• 90 g cashew nuts
• 50 g walnuts
• 2 tbls cocoa nibs
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 3 tbls maple syrup

• 50 g dates
• 1 tbls coconut oil
• 3 heaped tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tbls maple syrup
• 2 tbls chia seeds
• 2 tbls water

• Soak chia seeds in a bowl with 8 tbsp of water and set aside for later. Place all the ball ingredients in a food processor and blend until combined and sticking together. If you find the mixture too dry add a few drops of water (don’t add to much though or it will be too sticky to roll into balls). Roll into balls. I used a tablespoon to roughly measure
• Now place all the chocolate coating ingredients in the processor with the socked chia seeds and blend until smooth. You want the mixture to be able to coat the balls quite thickly but if the mixture is too thick add another tablespoon of water. Line a tray with baking paper. Scoop out mixture in to a small bowl. Drop a ball in and roll it around to coat it well. Place on the baking paper and fridge or freeze when complete

My recommendation is to fridge them initially so the outer coating sets, then you can pile then into a container and freeze for a few months. There is no need to defrost – eat them straight out of the freezer  

Energy balls, bliss balls, apricot balls, whatever you want to call them, are delicious little things that are perfect for lunch boxes and a quick snack.

My energy balls contain hemp seeds which have a rich nutrition profile with high levels of antioxidants, fatty acids, minerals, and vitamins.  They also contain oats, chia seeds, unsweetened coconut, dried apricots and coconut oil.

Because these energy balls contain dried fruit they are high in natural sugars, so treat these like any treat and serve them occasionally.

My hemp seeds and apricot energy balls are nut free so I can include them in H’s lunch (it’s a nut free school). You could however add nuts in place of the oats if you wish.  The recipe is flexible. If you don’t have all the ingredients try adding something else.

Print Pin Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

• 1 cup dried apricot
• 1/2 cup traditional oats
• 1/4 cup desiccated coconut ,unsweetened
• 2 tablespoons hemp seeds
• 2 tablespoons chia seeds
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil ,melted

• Add all ingredients to a food processor.  Process until the mixture resembles a fine crumb.  Press together with your hands to see it will stick together once rolled.  If its too dry add a little extra coconut oil. 1 teaspoon at a time. 
• Roll into 1 tablespoon sized balls and coat in extra coconut, hemp seeds or chia seeds.  

Best kept in the freezer.  

Looking for other energy ball inspiration?  Try the recipes below 🙂

Berry Bliss Balls – also nut free         Raw Halva Truffles

Bliss Balls with dates, cashews, chia , cocoa         Macadamia Bonbons with chocolate toffee

If you make my hemp seed and apricot energy balls, be sure to take a picture and upload to Instagram with the hashtag #littlebigh.  I’d love to see your creation. xx

This is my idea of summer – A refreshing puree of lychee, pineapple & apricot.  Perfect for baby and the entire family.  

No cooking which is always a bonus and could be served as a snack or with a dollop of natural yoghurt for breakfast.

Baby will love it…

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• A dozen or so fresh lychees (you could also use tin lychees)
• A handful of fresh pineapple pieces
• 2 apricots

• Peel and remove the seed from the lychees
• Add to the blender along with the pineapple pieces
• Blend to the desired consistency

Suitable to freeze if using fresh ingredients
Not suitable to freeze if using frozen fruits as the mixture is not cooked

I know what you are thinking – Dukkah isn’t kids food!  Well I thought the same things, so when H and I decided to make this homemade nutty dukkah the other morning.  I wasn’t expecting H to like it.  He has never been a huge fan of cumin so I thought there is no way…. But, I turned…

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Frozen banana pops with a healthy cocoa-tahini coating that not only tastes great, but it is good for you.  Sugar-free and a great snack option that the kids will love to help make.   You simply chop a banana into thirds and stick a paddle pop stick or skewer into the end and freeze for a few hours….

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Well Easter has come and gone and I got away with it for another year.   H still doesn’t like chocolate!   He wanted a kinder surprise bunny and a big kinder surprise egg – its all about the toy inside obviously!  He was a happy boy but had no interest in the chocolate.  I…

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Happy New Year! I have a nice healthy recipe to start the new year.  Apple chips with an optional rosewater toffee just to spice things up a little.   H prefers his apple chips without toffee so I add toffee to half and leave the other half as is.  I use a food dehydrator to dehydrate…

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Chia seed pudding is one of the first recipes I posted on this blog.  H and I both love it, and I love the convenience of it when served for breakfast.  I always make it the night before and it is ready to go in the morning.  It is so easy to make and requires…

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These macadamia bonbons are super healthy, they contain macadamia nuts, chia seeds, tahini, coconut, vanilla and I have sweetened mine with maple.  If you want a sugar-free alternative use rice malt syrup.   I was pretty excited when my toffee idea came together.  I put brown rice syrup in a  small saucepan and heated it over…

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I have two weaknesses when it comes to food, chocolate and ice cream.  I often enjoy a bowl of ice cream of an evening, and up until recently I would serve myself ice cream and H natural yoghurt – sneaky but brilliant right 🙂 But at 2.5 years old, H is now totally on to me….

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These carrot and walnut muffins are really delicious, and with 2 cups of carrot they are also good for you.  I always like to have a batch of muffins in the freezer, they are super handy for lunch boxes or healthy snack on the run.   They aren’t overly sweet so if you like things…

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Baked ricotta is creamy, lemony, deliciousness.  What more can I say!  The little dude was a  huge fan.  He looooooves dips – or possibly the actual dipping itself, but either way he dipped away with gusto.  Serve as a dip at your next party or I love it served with roasted veggies and crusty bread for a…

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This post has been a long time coming.  I usually have 3 or 4 recipes ready to go but I have had a number of flops recently and have become a little over it! First there was my lemony asparagus pasta that I make often but turned to mush on this occasion.  Then I attempted a…

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The sous vide cooks apricots amazingly well. They have a beautiful delicate velvety texture once cooked. You could also make this dish on the stove top if you don’t have a sous vide. The flavour will be the very similar but you will lose the velvety texture.  Little Big H loves the tartness of this…

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I started making this dish for Little Big H at around 7 months.  It contains eggs but I had given him eggs previously so I didn’t have to worry about any allergies.  It makes around 6 x 120ml mini flans

This is the simplest of purees but I wanted to add it to the blog to highlight that the organic apple season in Australia is coming to an end.  Apples top the ‘Dirty Dozen’ list so it is important to buy organic.  Apples are a bit of a staple for adding to other foods therefore…

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I had never tried Kohlrabi before making this dish.  I spotted it at my local organic store and bought two.  A purple one and a green one.  I googled it when I got home and realised that it is very similar to cabbage.   I am a huge coleslaw fan so I thought I would…

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This is a delicious breakfast, dessert or healthy afternoon snack for Little Big H, with no cooking involved.   I like to swirl the mango raspberry and yoghurt rather than mix it all together, that way Little Big H gets a different taste with every mouthful.   He just loves yoghurt.  I always serve him…

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A simple summer puree that requires no cooking. The mint gives it a nice freshness, and its a great way to start introducing herbs to your baby

Forget boring and tasteless rice cereal as babies first food.  Offer real food instead!  Avocado and banana make wonderful first foods.  (Try individually to check for any allergies, then mash together for a wonderful tasting puree) Bananas’ high enzyme content (namely, amylase) means that they can digest themselves and thus, there’s less work for your…

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I really like celery but I don’t tend to use a lot of it in my cooking – not sure why!  I always seem to have a huge amount taking up prime real-estate in my tiny fridge – thanks to my mum who always seems to buy it.  Keen to use it up, I was browsing my cookbooks ‘online’ looking for wintry celery recipe and decided on this one by Tom Kerridge.  I have adapted the recipe a little and Tom also tops the soup with a poached egg – so go ahead and do that if you like.

So let me explain the ‘online’ cookbooks above.  I had a brilliant idea – or at least I thought it was my idea, until I looked online and someone had already done it (don’t you hate that!), and brilliantly I might add.  The website is Eat Your Books  (and I highly recommend it to anyone with a lot of cookbooks).  You simply add the cookbooks (and some magazines) that you own to your online bookshelf and then use it to search for recipes.  

So lets say I want to find all the recipes that contain celery in my collection.  Instead of flipping through all of my cookbooks looking for a recipe, I simply search for celery and it will give me a list of recipes to choose from.  I currently have 430 recipes that include celery in my collection of 63 cookbooks and 5550 recipes. Cool right.  You can also search for cuisine, recipe type, etc. 

You can join for free but to add unlimited books you need to upgrade to pro – I did, its cheap and well worth it in my opinion.

This is NOT a sponsored post.  I just wanted to share my find with you all. I’m excited…

You can see my bookshelf here

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• 1 leek; sliced
• 2 garlic cloves; crushed
• 1 kilo of celery; chopped
• 1 large potato; diced
• 1 litre salt-reduced chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
• 1 small bunch of parsley; leaves only
• 200 ml double cream
• Celery leave to garnish *optional

• Add a splash of olive oil to a large saucepan or pot. Add the leek and garlic and cook until soft – about 10 minutes. Add the potato and chicken stock and bring to the boil. Lower heat and simmer until the potato is soft. Add the celery and bring to the boil and cook for about 5 minutes or until the celery is just soft. Add the parsley and double crew; stir and remove from the heat.
• Whizz in a blender or food processor until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve if it isn’t silky smooth and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot drizzled with olive oil. Garnish with a few celery leaves.

Serves 4-6 people.
Suitable for babies from 6 months, however I would leave out the salt and pepper for babies portions Adapted from Tom Kerridge’s Best Ever Dishes

And just like that H is at school and I’m preparing school lunch boxes. I’m finding it quite fun at the moment – but it has only been a week. I’ll report back in a months time! So with that in mind, I thought it would be nice to include a little sweet treat on…

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Mini cupcakes – perfect for little hands… I used my mums cupcakes recipe here but substituted the huge amounts of sugar with mashed banana and honey.  It worked a treat.  H loved them.  The mango on top is lovely paired with the banana and they are light and fluffy.   They are super easy to…

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Frozen banana pops with a healthy cocoa-tahini coating that not only tastes great, but it is good for you.  Sugar-free and a great snack option that the kids will love to help make.   You simply chop a banana into thirds and stick a paddle pop stick or skewer into the end and freeze for a few hours….

Read More »

Frozen yoghurt is so easy to make – it only has 4 ingredients.  I’ve added banana to give it some sweetness and a little maple syrup, but that is totally optional.  It freezes quite hard so sit on the bench before serving to allow it to soften a little. Substitute the blackberries for whatever you have on…

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It doesn’t get much simpler than this – Banana dipped in lemon juice and tossed in coconut.  A nice easy snack for the little ones – it also makes it easy for them to grip.

Summer Fruit Puree with mango, banana, passionfruit and peach.  Simply added to a blender and pulsed til smooth.  No cooking required.  Baby will love it and so will you.   The Stone Fruit Puree with Cinnamon and Star Anise is simmered on the stove top until tender so the spices can infuse the mixture.  It is a…

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Forget boring and tasteless rice cereal as babies first food.  Offer real food instead!  Avocado and banana make wonderful first foods.  (Try individually to check for any allergies, then mash together for a wonderful tasting puree) Bananas’ high enzyme content (namely, amylase) means that they can digest themselves and thus, there’s less work for your…

Read More »

Serve these gorgeous poached vanilla pears with my lavender custard from my previous post.  It is sugar-free and perfect for babies from 6 months old.  

Simply mash the poached pear with a fork and mix it with the custard for a delicious dessert, snack or even breakfast.  Enjoy xx

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• 1 pear
• 1 tsp of vanilla bean paste (alternatively use a vanilla bean or vanilla extract)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• Lavender Custard (see previous post)

• Peel, core and quarter the pears. Add to a saucepan along with the vanilla bean paste, cinnamon and enough water to cover the pears. Simmer until tender.
• Once it has cooled a little, add a good dollop of lavender custard and serve

  Sugar Free Lavender Custard – recipe here

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• 100 g butter; melted
• 8 sheets of filo pastry
• 3 large zucchini (courgettes); grated
• 8 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups of cream (375ml)
• salt / pepper
• 200 g goats curd (or you could use a soft goats cheese)

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F)
• Lay a single filo sheet on the bench and brush with the melted butter. Continue layering filo sheets and brushing with butter in between each layer
• Brush a baking tray (about 30 x 40cm) with a good amount of melted butter and add the filo sheets to the baking tray
• Top with the grated zucchini
• Place eggs, cream, salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk to combine. Pour over the zucchini and top with spoonfuls of the goats curd
• Bake for approximately 35 minutes or until just set (cooking time will vary depending on the size of your baking tray)
• Allow to cool slightly and serve

Suitable to freeze – cut into portion and freeze
Seves 4 – 6 adults Adapted from Donna Hay (donnahay.com.au)  

I grew up eating my mums salmon patties and they are a family favourite.  They are so comforting and remind me of home.   They are so simple to make and are a great first finger food for little folks.  I have made these mini sized so they are easy for H to pick up.   The mixture…

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Beautiful Berry Coulis – sugar free Chicken with Apples and Thyme –  such as great combination Delicate white fish with fennel and grapes   I’m very excited to be sharing my very first guest post with you all, on a great blog called  Never the Same Spice Twice.  I have 3 new recipes suitable for babies…

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I had no intention of putting these mini lamb koftas on the blog when I made them for Little Big H’s lunch today, but they were so yummy and he loved them so much that I though – I have to!   I made them using lamb loin (because that’s all I had), so I was…

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 You may have seen this recipe a million times on the internet, but I couldn’t resist putting it on the blog for anyone who hasn’t.  It is perfect for babies from 6 months old – and its delicious.   My favourite topping is mango and passionfruit but use whatever fruit is in season. It takes…

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I couldn’t resist buying these super cute minikin pumpkins.  I have stuffed them with pearl barley and mixed veggies and it did quite nicely for a healthy meat-free dinner. Slice into portions or scoop out the flesh along with the pearl barley and mash for your little one.